April 3 - Tokyo

After a long journey we’re starting this trip with an overnight in Tokyo before heading on to Kyushu in the morning.

Apparently Victoria has aged during the flight over since when we bought bus tickets from Narita airport into Tokyo the fare is cheaper if you’re under 25 years old and the ticket agent insisted on seeing her passport for proof-of-age before letting us have the discounted fare. (She’s 13.)

After a quick bag drop at the hotel, the main event for the day was just to manage to stay up until a decent hour so we could hopefully not have too much jet lag the first night. We took the train down to Shinjuku prefecture so Victoria could have her first taste of the bright lights and noise that Tokyo is famous for.

Then we were off to Yakitori Alley for some chicken yakitori as a “light” dinner. (Victoria wasn't so impressed with the sticks that had chicken hearts, liver, nor skin on them. More for me.)

Again, Victoria seems to appear older here (perhaps it’s the comparative average height?): as we were scoping the various barbecue stalls for one that could accommodate us, we turned around to find that an English guy in his twenties struck up a chat with Victoria, hopefully just being friendly and nothing more.

Back at the hotel we’re trying to get in the Japanese habit of politely hitting the “Door Open” and “Door Close” button for other patrons, but as our place is a little bit outside the tourist zone the buttons don’t have English and we can never remember which is which.

We've learned that the one on the right is “Door Close” and are remembering it by thinking that the lower half of the symbol looks like a guy doing a little dance and yelling “CLOSE!” The easiest way to remember this is to do the little dance and the yell yourself.

It’s best to wait until you’re alone in the elevator first, though.